Motivated by the current demands in high-performance structural analysis, and by a need to better model systems with localized nonlinearities, analysts have developed a number of different approaches for modeling and simulating the dynamics of a bolted-joint structure. However, it is still unclear which approach might be most effective for a given system or set of conditions. To better grasp their similarities and differences, this paper presents a numerical benchmark that assesses how well two diametrically differing joint modeling approaches -a time-domain wholejoint approach and a frequency-domain node-to-node approach -predict and simulate a mechanical joint. These approaches were applied to model the Brake-Reuß beam, a prismatic structure comprised of two beams with a bolted joint interface. The two approaches were validated first by updating the models to reproduce the nonlinear response for the first bending mode of an experimental Brake-Reuß beam. Afterwards, the tuned models were evaluated on their ability to predict the nonlinearity in the dynamic response for the second and third bending modes. The results show that the two joint modeling approaches perform about equally as well in simulating the Brake-Reuß beam. In addition, the exposition highlights improvements that were made in each method during the course of this work and reveal further challenges in advancing the state-of-the-art.

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Structures with mechanical joints are difficult to model accurately. Even if the natural frequencies of the system remain essentially constant, the damping introduced by the joints is often observed to change dramatically with amplitude. Although models for individual joints have been employed with some success, accurately modeling a structure with many joints remains a significant obstacle. To this end, Segalman proposed a modal Iwan model, which simplifies the analysis by modeling a system with a linear superposition of weakly-nonlinear, uncoupled single degree-of-freedom systems or modes. Given a simulation model with discrete joints, one can identify the model for each mode by selectively exciting each mode one at a time and observing how the transient response decays. However, in the environment of interest several modes may be excited simultaneously, such as in an experiment when an impulse is applied at a discrete point. In this work, the modal Iwan model framework is assessed numerically to understand how well it captures the dynamic response of typical structures with joints when they are excited with impulsive forces applied at point locations. This is done by comparing the effective natural frequency and modal damping of the uncoupled modal models with those of truth models that include nonlinear modal coupling. These concepts are explored for two structures, a simple spring-mass system and a finite element model of a beam, both of which contain physical Iwan elements to model joint nonlinearity. The results show that modal Iwan models can effectively capture the variations in frequency and damping with amplitude, which, for damping, can increase by as much as two orders of magnitude in the microslip regime. However, even in the microslip regime the accuracy of a modal Iwan model is found to depend on whether the mode in question is dominant in the response; in some cases the effective damping that the uncoupled model predicts is found to be in error by tens of percent. Nonetheless, the modal model captures the response qualitatively and is still far superior to a linear model.

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